JTF Press Release!

This past January, MCCA’s cast of Alice in Wonderland Jr. attended the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta, GA. The Junior Theater Festival (JTF) is the world’s biggest and best celebration of young people performing musical theater. The cast and creative team of Alice in Wonderland Jr. were together for an 8-month process. Students auditioned for the JTF company in May of 2024, spent 2 weeks in June rehearsing and performing the hour-long Jr. show, and attended accelerated training classes throughout the fall and winter sessions to prepare for attending the festival in January.

At JTF, the company was awarded the Freddie G Award for Excellence in Ensemble Work.  Our cast of Alice in Wonderland had a journey full of ups, downs, and unexpected twists and turns on our journey to JTF, much like Alice’s journey in Wonderland, which led us to having an incredibly cohesive, powerful, and tight-knit ensemble.  The Excellence in Ensemble Work award is an award given to a group that demonstrates exceptional collaboration, unity, and strong relationships between all performers on stage, signifying a high level of teamwork and collective performance quality beyond individual talent.  

Alice in Wonderland Jr. was directed and choreographed by Coty Forno and music directed by Shelby Herbert.  Gillian Myers served as student director.  Coty and Shelby have had the privilege of leading the JTF group for the past nine years (with lots of pop-in years from Jamie McGreevy!) For JTF 2026, MCCA favorites, Jacki Dixon, Matthan Potts, and Ashton Williams will be taking the reins! 

Post JTF, Coty and I reflected on our favorite part of the JTF journey this year.  We agreed it was observing firsthand each individual student’s growth, bravery, and light.  The way students rose to the occasion in this year’s company was special - it takes great bravery to make yourself seen and be generous of heart and spirit on stage.  Every single member of our group said yes to allowing themselves to see and be seen to tell Alice’s beautiful story.  We’re so fortunate to have had a stellar group of students and parents travel to JTF ’25 - it was the perfect way to close one JTF chapter, to prepare to open a new one! 

Here’s what the adjudicators had to say about MCCA at JTF ‘25 - Rob Rokicki, Broadway composer & educator. The Lightning thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, Monstersongs - 

“I loved this performance! From the first moment, there was such clear storytelling, wonderful character work, good physicality and excellent execution of stage pictures. Their presentation showed that their program fosters dedicated and focused actors who have a great sense of trust with each other and a spirit of fun.”

Shay Rodgers, Choreographer for iTheatrics choreography videos - 

“The intent of this piece was brilliant! The story was told through the eyes of Alice, and it was so evident during her presentation. The direction of this piece was brilliant and so clear to the audience.”

Lotte Wakeham, Lotte Wakeham is the Artistic Director of the Octagon Theatre (UK) & was Associate Director of Matilda the Musical in the West End and on Broadway - 

“I was very impressed by this performance; it was wonderful to see a group with a large age range working together as a team. The physical storytelling was very inventive, and they really understood the tone of the piece in a sophisticated way. I really admired their ensemble work and their energy; they are a talented group. This is clearly a very strong theatre program, and the staff should be commended for their work with these students. I was impressed to see so many exciting creative choices and look forward to hearing about what they do next.”

The opportunities for students and directors to learn and grow at JTF are amazing!  In addition to all our JTF company, parents, and staff attending a diverse selection of workshops, performances, and events, several MCCA students were able to participate in further learning opportunities. 

Four MCCA students competed in Tech Olympics, a high-energy obstacle course to test and strengthen competitors' technical theater skills!  Dylan Rando, Landry Williams (team captain), Mikey Latgis, and Nola Logsdon were this year’s team members, and they crushed it!  MCCA student Fiona Youngblood also attended Tech Olympics as an alternate and hype girl for the team! 

Social Media Ambassadors, Landon Eber and Lauryn Moyer (senior), created amazing behind-the-scenes social media content to document our JTF ‘25 experience. The JTF social media ambassadors were given the opportunity to attend a special social media workshop. 

Landon Eber and Mason Merrick were selected by adjudicators as MCCA’s All-Stars.  The JTF All-Stars are students who are selected for their outstanding performances at the festival.  The two All-Stars from each group combine for an exciting workshop and talkback session with Broadway professionals.  

MCCA students Cassidy Witt, Mason Merrick, and Penny Bogart also auditioned for the opportunity to be cast in iTheatrics Videos.  Cassidy and Mason made it through to the final round of callbacks! 

MCCA’s JTF ‘26 group, performing Beetlejuice Jr., will be auditioning soon! Beetlejuice Jr. will be directed by Jacki Dixon, choreographed by Matthan Potts, and music directed by Ashton Williams. To receive more info about JTF, fill out the interest form here - https://www.mymcca.com/beetlejuicejr